I'm a foodie. But it's not just about food. It's about being fed — with food, knowledge, humor, love, and joy.

January 12, 2012

The BBQ Test

I had plans to meet some friends for lunch at Armadillo Willy’s, a Texas BBQ restaurant. This appointment was set a few weeks before my experiment as Temporary Vegetarian.

I considered, for a moment, changing plans but decided this would be part of the experience. Now, I love barbecue. I mean, I really love barbecue. How would I deal with the temptation? And for that matter, is there anything at Willy’s a vegetarian can eat?

The online menu showed me that one of their salads is vegetarian. I ordered that, with a side of sweet potato fries.

Win!! The salad was fresh and cold, with corn, a few crispy croutons, romaine and iceberg, and was topped with a sliced, grilled portabello mushroom. This salad was so good that I would order it even if I were not the ordering as a vegetarian.

And oddly, the barbecued delights everyone else was enjoying didn’t bother me at all. The biggest surprise in this experiment is that so far, on Day 11, I haven’t felt deprived at all.

Sites and Blogs I like

Serious EatsSerious Eats is another blog which plants its stake, and its steak, in the fertile land where food meets science. There is lots of great material here, much of it by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, or Kenji. If you like FeedMe, you will like Serious Eats.

Cooking for EngineersWhat do you get when you apply the engineer's mind to the kitchen? Straightforward, practical recipes and tips and a passion for simplifying without sacrificing quality.